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Thursday, September 26, 2013

Still planning your curriculum for the year? JPEF's new Tactics of Resistance is a framework you can use throughout the year to help students analyze conflicts and brainstorm solutions to violence and other forms of aggression.

Here are a few tips for using Tactics in the upcoming school year:

Apply the Matrix to a range of conflicts

Encourage off-the-wall solutions

Use the Resistance Matrix as an action-planning tool

Test examples to see if they fit the definition of aggression

Color code student responses

Apply the Matrix to A Variety of Conflicts

At the heart of the Tactics curriculum is the Resistance Matrix, a new tool that helps students think critically about aggression, resistance, and long- and short-term outcomes.

Students start by analyzing examples of armed and non-violent resistance from the life of Jewish partisan Frank Blaichman (see above). Then they adapt the process to brainstorm solutions to problems teens face in their own lives, for example, put-downs or bullying in the locker room:

Once students get the hang of the matrix, you can use it to brainstorm solutions to other situations (personal, community or global). You can also apply it as an analytic tool throughout the year in history, current events, literature, and even religious studies classes.

Concepts, critical thinking questions, and other materials from the lesson (such as the Tactics List and the Jewish Resistance Slideshow) will help you frame and examine subsequent conflicts your students study in your class.

Encourage off-the-wall solutions

Feel free to let students be as creative as they can as they generate possible responses to aggression. By following off-the-wall, or even violent tactics to their conclusion, students naturally come to see the downsides and unintended consequences of outsized ('asymmetric') responses.

On the other hand, after looking at the practical consequences of inappropriate solutions, we like to ask students for out-of-the-box solutions; something “so crazy it just might work”.

These proposals can often lead to useful approaches. In one class, a student proposed bribing his sister to stop her from sneaking into his room and reading his diary. This led to another student suggesting they ask why she was acting this way, instead of simply arguing. Perhaps his sister was angry about something he did, or was simply curious, or actually wanted his attention. By considering her possible motivations, the student saw an option to be less reactive.

Use the Resistance Matrix as an action-planning tool

Once students see how the matrix can help them think through their responses, you can encourage them to use it as a planning tool for creating positive change.

Use the Aggression column to help the group define the actual problem, and brainstorm large-scale solutions in the Resistance column (e.g: holding non-violence trainings to help students deal with bullying at school). Take the most popular solutions and break them down into smaller steps, assigning each to a different team who will envision possible consequences (positive and negative) for each point in the process. Teams can use a fresh matrix to troubleshoot and improve, then reconvene with the rest of the group to put their proposals together into a larger action plan.

Test examples to see if they fit the definition of aggression:

Students often misconstrue events in their own lives and categorize them as “aggression”, when in fact it's simply a matter of disagreement. That's why the lesson begins by working with the students to define Aggression and Resistance before introducing the matrix.

For example, if students offer a curfew set by their parents as an example of aggression, ask if the action the object to is “intended to harm.”

Helping students differentiate between conflicts and true examples of aggression also helps students think critically about authority figures and the imposed limits they encounter in their own lives.

Color code student examples of Aggression, Resistance, and Outcomes

The Resistance Matrix offers students the opportunity to see both the short and long term consequences of an action or event. It is a tool that especially supports visual learners. To highlight this effect – as well as to help non-visual learners keep track of the various categories – try color-coding student responses so that “Aggression”, “Resistance”, and “Outcome” categories each are written in their own color.

More teaching tips online

See our entire Tactics of Resistance online course (running time: 43 minutes) for more tips and ideas to help you use these tools throughout your school year.

When is violence is an appropriate response to Aggression (if ever)? Was non-violence effective during the Holocaust? Expand your students’ vocabulary and creative/critical thinking around the spectrum of violent and non-violent resistance to aggression today (globally and in our own lives) through the lens of Jews who fought back against the Holocaust. Includes an overview of Jewish armed and unarmed resistance during the Holocaust.

Painting on the right by Mieczyslaw Watorski, courtesy of the Holocaust Library & Resource Center at Albright College.

How to Use JPEF Materials to…

JPEF is launching a new series of educator’s guides on how to use our materials for specific subjects and contexts such as Language Arts, Tolerance and Civics classes. Our first module, Strengthening Jewish Identity includes discussion questions to go with our films, tips for increasing Jewish pride, and an index of materials best suited to day schools, summer camps, supplementary programs, youth groups and more.

Over 89% of educators who have take a JPEF E-Learning course said they would take another and 97% would recommend it to a colleague. Now the State of New Jersey Holocaust Commission is offering professional development units for each course, and we’re working on more certifications. We’re also developing new courses for our upcoming curricula and other projects.

In November 2011, JPEF honored more than 55 surviving Jewish partisans in a series of events in New York City. JPEF’s newest documentary, "The Reunion," features candid conversations about the responsibilities of being one of the last Holocaust survivors, and moments of joy as former resistance fighters see each other for the first time in over 65 years. "The Reunion" tells the story of lifelong bonds and a unique legacy that connects people across decades and generations.

The Reunion premieres in New York, San Francisco and Miami with an additional screening in Dallas, and will eventually be featured on our website

JPEF Highlights

Upcoming Events:

March 4, 2018

Jonathan Furst and Sheri Rosenblum will present What are your breaking points? – When and how do you resist?, a student workshop at the Bay Area annual Day of Learning, sponsored by Jewish Family Services' San Francisco Holocaust Center. Holly Starr Cvetich will share the fascinating Jewish partisan story of her mother Sara Rosnow (z’’l), accompanied by Sara's granddaughters Alexa Brown and Rachel Cvetich.

March 8-10, 2018

JPEF's Director of Development and Outreach, Sheri Rosenblum, will be a featured presenter during Casper College's 3 day seminar Through the Eyes of Many: Experiences During the Holocaust". Speaking to both educators and students about the lessons of the Jewish partisans, she will bring the stories of Jewish resistance to Wyoming for the first time.

Partnerships

We are collaborating with Facing History and Ourselves to bring the Jewish partisans to over 80,000 educators in their network. Facing History has integrated many of JPEF's educational materials into their online resource offerings and professional development trainings. A special section of their website is devoted to the study of the Jewish partisans, and features JPEF partisans and active links to JPEF's site.

54 of JPEF's Jewish partisans are now featured in the Personal Stories section of theUnited States Holocaust Memorial Museum's Holocaust Encyclopedia. Their vital stories are now being shared with over a million annual visitors to USHMM's website.

Watch for JPEF at the 97th Annual Conference of the National Council for the Social Studies. November 17-19 in San Francisco.

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ASK A PARTISAN

Q: Hello my name is Joshua i would like to know what rifle or weapon that was carried by yall im doing a realistic fiction book and would like to know what weapon was carried on average.–Age 14

A: Starting in December of 1942 I carried two weapons - a rifle and a revolver, both of which were locally available and likely Polish made. Later on, In July of 1943, we received a shipment of Arms from the Red Army via parachute drop. From then on, I began carrying a 'Pe-Pe-Sha' soviet machine gun, a German Luger and 2 hand grenades.

Thank you for the inquiry,

–Frank Blaichman

* * *

Q: What was the social hierarchy like in these partisan groups–Age 15

A: In Russian partisan brigades, different units may have had different protocols, especially the all-Jewish Bielski Otriad. In the Stalinskaya Brigade that I was a part of, many of the partisans had been commanding officers in the Russian Army or were escaped POWs. They generally assumed the positions that they held in the Russian Army. Each brigade had a commanding officer who would appoint battalion heads. All officers were appointed, but you could rise through to other positions like being a scout by volunteering. There was antisemitism in my unit and they treated the Jews a bit differently. Because I was young and Jewish, I had to prove myself.

–Allen Small

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